It's early morning, days away from Wrestlemania, when Mike finds himself wide awake, staring at the ceiling. The sun is only just beginning to creep up into the sky when he gives up and sits up, glancing over at AJ. She's still fast asleep so he's as quiet as he can be, sneaking out of their room and collecting his spare pair of jeans from his duffel before slipping into shoes and slipping outside. It's an easy drive, even more so than usual thanks to the slightly reduced traffic, to the beach, and Mike exhales a soft breath as he pulls up and immediately feels some of the tension bleed from his shoulders.
The sand is warm enough that he can feel it through the soles of his shoes as he ventures towards the ocean, listening and watching for the telltale signs of his best friend being nearby. It's hard to miss him when he finally does come upon him, even though John's quiet and still, body held in one of his favorite yoga poses, one that's always been too complicated for Mike to even attempt to understand. His hair is gleaming in the sun, and his skin glistens like he's just recently gotten out of the water. "You shouldn't swim before hours," Mike says suddenly and John barely responds for a moment, before smoothly slipping out of his pose and shifting to sit square on the sand, looking up at Mike with a vague smirk.
"There are a lot of things I shouldn't do, it somehow works out ok for me either way," he shrugs. "What's up, Mike?"
"Couldn't sleep," he says, dropping down to sit in front of John in the sand. "Figured you'd be here."
"Never easy Wrestlemania week, is it?" he asks, twirling his fingers through the sun-kissed sand between them. "I mean, I'm not competing at it, but I'm still kinda... nervous, I guess."
"Well, you are competing against your wife this weekend, that would make anyone fretful," Mike chuckles.
"True," John says. "I should know better than not to do the dishes well, but you know."
"Hey, man, no judgment here," Mike says. "Only reason AJ and I don't completely freak out on each other it is because we both hate doing it, so we have a level of understanding if something gets, uh, overlooked." He smirks a bit, then shrugs. "I really wish we had had more than one Wrestlemania to work together again."
"Me too," John sighs. "Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, I guess. You get along well with Logan Paul though, right?"
"He's fine, yeah," Mike shrugs. "He's a fast enough learner."
"Well, that's always a positive," John murmurs. "You gonna watch me on the Collective?"
"I'll see if I have free time," Mike shrugs. "Things slowly getting back to normal means we have to both juggle virtual things, in person things, and media. It's going to be a wild few days."
John nods. "I can imagine. It's interesting being back on the indy scene, especially with Taya. Things are so frantic on Wrestlemania weekend, at least people are still eager to book me, despite how the last year went for me."
Mike frowns at him. "Hey, most of that wasn't your fault, ok? I... I could've handled things better. And of course they still want to book you, you're still Johnny Drip Drip. They'd be fools not to want you to bring some excitement to thier random little indy events."
John chuckles. "You always know how to make a guy feel special," he sighs, leaning back into the sand to absorb some of the sun. "I know we both have our own wishes on how this weekend was going, but it is what it is. Either way, just embrace it as best as you can, alright, Mike? Take this match with the Mysterios as it comes, and kick ass. Don't worry about stuff. There hasn't been a Mania where you haven't made the most of it, this year won't be any different. Just go for it."
Mike smiles a little. "Thanks, John. I'll do my best." He too spreads out in the sand, glad he's dressed in regular clothes, and stares up at the soft blue sky overhead, relaxing in this quiet moment spent with his best friend before things get frantic and desperate again, the time crunch eating at all involved just to make the weekend work as well as possible. "Maybe I'll see you in Texas?"
John smirks. "Yeah, man. Count on it."
Mike closes his eyes, nods. He will.